Strange Magic

Poor Sam is cooped up indoors all day every day, with nothing to do but watch box sets of DVDs and relax. Like the great friends we are, we took him to the beautiful, bra-ridden landscape of Coburg skatepark for an outing to watch us skate around with our healthy legs, which he loved.



Joey was a big part of proceedings.



Beci was part of a show on the wrong side of the river. We arrived a little late, but heartily enjoyed it. Sofia had been there for a while, and had perhaps consumed a little sugar.



VCA grad show was on, and impressive it was too. Kate's piece employed our clothes line in no small way. She's been working around the clock for some time on this stuff and now is on holidays. Well done, Mossy!



Other favourites included Benno's masterful, cosmic b&w photography, Z Man's amazing ventriloquist dummy work, Elena's confrontational video balloon kissing and Marc's confessional placard work.



Scottie loved these naughty sex pictures.



Ackroyd, itching to listen to some out there tunes on them headphones.



Not sure who made this, but it's bloody good. Kind of similar to the concept Tom came up with a while back, the well covered with mirrors, which Sam and I pondered on for quite some time. The show is up till Sunday if you haven't seen it yet.



Jason and I rode out to Coburg for a skate the other day. On the way back, I accidentally clipped a guy's rear vision mirror with my board and what followed was a chase scene straight out of BMX Bandits!



You've heard of Rooftop Cinema, I take it. Well, have you heard of Mavie's outdoor cinema? It's a little less well marketed, sure, and perhaps a little less legally sanctioned, but it sure floats my boat. This session of True Romance was completely sold out.



How good is that movie!!!



Hottest ticket in town.



Packing up Mavie's outdoor cinema for another night.

Sydney

Sydney is such a pretty place, isn't it. Lots of trees and lovely old buildings everywhere you look.



Ostensibly, we were there to attend Rosie's brother Jake's exhibition opening. Here he is, sporting a tie his friend just presented him with, proud as punch.



Here's Rosie's mum Helen, our man in Sydney Doug and Rosie herself.



This piece was free to the first person who asked how much it was. Doug and I think that is a great idea and were both pretty bummed we didn't arrive earlier.



Rosie's brother Ned, pulling his patented photo face in front of a couple of Jake's paintings.



This is Ned's son Henry, a leading authority on cars of all types.



One thing Sydney definitely has on Melbourne (or London, for that matter) is the beach. Clovelly is awesome for snorkelling, as Doug showed us. Rosie enquired why we set up camp on the concrete when there was a beach a hundred metres away, to which Doug replied 'because there's no sand'. Can't argue with that logic.



Me, I like sand. Here my feet are at Bronte beach, a heavenly spot.



Along for the ride was none other than TJ, who always seems to be in Sydney when I am!



And our new friend, Kris. Kris navigated us to the beach using ninja-like shortcuts and back ways like a true Sydneysider. We sat under a waterfall coming from the swimming pool into the grotto like area. I shouted, 'I am so happy!'



A camp of good folk on the hill near the beach, consisting of Condor, Kris, Maurice holding Odette and Shauna.



Misha had a show opening too, on Friday night. Here he's pointing out the big bums mooning the street from the windows of the gallery. Or maybe they're big balls, I'm not sure.



We had a bbq on Saturday afternoon with Rosie's family. Here's Din showing the correct way to light a mozzie coil.



Rosie's sister Emily, flanked by the triple threat of Archie, Harry and Henry.



The Pav, which is apparently from New Zealand originally, though I don't believe that for a second.



Rosie enjoying the last slice of a classic Aussie dessert.



Upon Olivia's recommendation, we visited the beautiful Rose Seidler house.



The original owners were named Rose and Max! I know, pretty disgusting.



We made ourselves at home.



Rosie in '50s housewife mode



Afterwards, we dropped Conor off and went to look at his and Amanda's place.



Shag cottage! What a spot!



Conor, explaining something.



So that was Sydney! Whirlwind, but a calm whirlwind. Upon our return, the Sunday papers were full of photos of friends again. This time, it was Marian's turn to come up with a genius fake name. Those gullible paparazzi didn't know what hit 'em!



Back at the office, the Rooftop cinema opened again on Monday night.



Anita and Alana were there, along with a throng of others.



And, er, I just got sent a new board, graphics by Lance Mountain no less!. Thanks Ben!

Hello

Funny how time gets away from you, or from me. I lost a sterling collection of photographs depicting Beci's birthday and a trip to Scienceworks with Milo to see the Star Wars exhibition, which was quite dispiriting, then never really caught up. There's even been talk of jumping out of the blog game altogether, but that is crazy talk.

Work has been quite hectic and demanding - well, not really. I suppose it's just a bit closer to what most people have to deal with all the time. Key workmate, confidante and office laugh generator Coleman is moving on to greener pastures at an ad agency. He's been having going away drinks for the past week or two.



Molly gave me a hot tip-off that Robert Forster was appearing at Readings, fittingly reading from his book and playing a few songs. This was a celebrity encounter that not only reinforced my admiration for the man, but illustrated how he seems to be just as good at being a funny, stylish, sarcastic person as he is at writing and performing kick ass music.



Illustrating a similar point, here's Mavey and his broken nose, playing cricket with a shovel in our backyard.



It's so good to have the ramshackle genius of Joey back. Here he is with Spencer or Ernie, I can never remember which. Look at Joey's blog for some documentation of his recently completed 9 month tour of Europe. The photos of the dodgy Russian petting zoo with bears, tigers and a monkey in pinstriped slacks and adidas is yet to be uploaded, but be patient.



Shona with.... Spencer? The one with the underbite.



Jason James with his cat, the Weird.



Me telling a funny story while Rosie and Sofia listen attentively.



Ed and Olivia actually listening attentively to one of Rosie's actually funny stories.



Roopa making another batch of sausages, this time a Thai blend complete with kaffir lime leaves and pine nuts.



I was lucky enough to score a ticket to the 'Body Electric dance-off' on the weekend. Anna, Ben and I were Rosie's cheering squad. I was going to make a sign saying 'So Rosie, I think you can dance', but I failed.



There were 5 groups (I think) and they all did two routines each. This was Rosie's group's first number, 'Suddenly' by Angry Anderson. Enchanting!



There's Rosie. In all the teams, it was like 'oh, that guy from that cafe', or 'isn't that my old housemate?'. So good.



Second routine, this time to 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC with a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max vibe.



There was a panel of judges and a host, so it was like a really good TV show. In fact, they were filming it for Sunday Arts on the ABC, though apparently it won't be on till next year.



These guys were good, they wore bike lights and performed an elegant routine to Kylie's 'Can't get you out of my head'.



The amazing Rosie in costume, complete with possum fur and spray painted goggles. They didn't win, but dancing was the winner in the end. I was most impressed, especially considering my well known dancing phobia.



Post prize announcing, the dance floor was open to all comers, but would occasionally break into more 'street' renditions of the routines when the corresponding song came on.



Following a sleep walking episode, we hung-overly attended the North Fitzroy Primary fete the next day. Ed and Sofia had been there for hours already.



I went on the Sizzler with Sofia, which was hilarious, though I was a bit scared she was going to fall out for a while.



Milo and his rat-bag mates were in an opposing car.



Snow cones were the snack of choice. We got through a couple.



A rabbit pooed on Milo in the petting zoo. Rosie pointed out a rabbit pooed on another rabbit a little later on, so it wasn't personal.



And what a way to top off the weekend: the return of the ginger prince, resplendent with broken leg and corn rows! We had wine and cheese over at his manor. Welcome back, Sam!!!



Shona with Sam's crazy boot.



Scottie, insisting on a white.